the light in the darkness
by Gospel Stonemad
Summary: Sometimes it takes space to teach the lessons we all need: that light continues endlessly even after its source is gone, that each breath is a measure of the infinite, and that, in all the miracles of the universe, matter came together to create you.


Nick Fury didn't believe in coincidences. He didn't believe in fate. The world was filled with too many moving parts to be considered one massive machine.

Sitting in a lawn chair, his legs stretched out over the deck, glass of iced tea in hand, he watched Carol Danvers flop back into the grass. Monica Rambeau giggled beside her; all boundless child energy and thin limbs drowning in the sea of life tickling her skin. Above them, the sky was dark and dotted with winking stars already drunk on the heavy, summer night. Humidity weighed down soft words, leaving only muffled, indistinguishable murmurs to reach the house.

Ice clinked against glass, crickets sang out their songs, and Maria pushed open the screen door. She sat down on the steps, her own drink in hand, and leaned back to watch Carol and her daughter. Somewhere in the dark, metal jingled as Goose chased insects through the shadows.

Nick Fury didn't quite believe in coincidences, but he watched Carol tackle Monica, listened to Maria's laughter, and saw Goose slink out of the night to sit on the banister and figured that, maybe, some things were just too perfect not to be.

oOo

"Breakfast?" Maria said softly, standing by the stove in a red Han Solo tank top that was so faded it almost looked pink. Birdsong drifted through the window and Goose was sprawled across the counter, dozing in a long patch of sun.

"Sure," Fury said, "need any help?"

Maria waved him off. "Not in here," she said, already placing the pans on the stove. "Mind fetching the eggs?"

Fury scratched Goose between the ears (and got a soft rumble of a chirrup) before taking the offered bowl and heading outside. The world hadn't quite warmed up just yet; sun still rising up over the tips of the trees. Chicken clucked at him, dodged around his feet. Maria had already scattered some feed and they pecked at the dirt while he gathered up the eggs.

When he got back, Carol was digging through the fridge, hair a fluffed, tousled mess. Goose was trying (failing) to perch on her shoulder and Monica had tangled her fingers into her hole-filled t-shirt. She handed cheese over to Maria and reached up to steady the not-quite-a-cat.

"Morning," Fury said.

With eyes too awake to be fully natural (god damn _morning_ people), Carol wrapped her arm around Monica's slumping shoulders. "Morning," she said, steering the young girl over to the table. "How'd you sleep?"

Fury was rudely interrupted by his own yawn and Carol's grin was too knowing to be anything other than smug.

oOo

Monica's fingers dug into Fury's arm as the jet levelled out. Behind them there was earth; everything that they knew, everything they had come to expect. Before them there was the decloaked Kree Imperial Cruiser—massive and black and looking almost too alien against the backdrop of space.

"Is that it?" Monica breathed, climbing closer to stand between Carol and Maria.

"Yeah, baby," Maria reached over, wrapped her arm around her daughter's waist, and pulled her close. "That's it."

Carol flicked a few switches and brought them around into the hangar. Talos was already waiting for them, hands clasped behind his back, movement buzzing around him as the Skrulls worked the repair the damage to the ship. The damage hadn't been too severe—nothing that fully breached the exterior—but work still needed to be done.

Lifting a tote of toys, Carol led the way off the jet. Monica ran past her to Talos' daughter, both of them disappearing to some other part of the ship. Goose's tags jingled as she trotted after them. The Skrulls no longer jerked away from the Flerken, but Talos still grimaced when she brushed too close to his leg.

"How're the repairs coming?" Carol walked, elbow to elbow with Talos.

"Good," he said, smiling at Soren as they passed. She pulled Maria away, talking about the bridge and something about the communications system. "Just a few more tweaks to the engines and we should be ready to go." They walked past a couple more rooms—the kitchen, a lounge area, and stopped on the bridge. "The plans you got us were very helpful."

Carol grinned. "Well," she said, "what's the use of having a SHIELD agent as a friend if they can't get you into secure facilities?"

"Hey!" Nick cried, hands on his hips.

Carol's grin was bright and no one gave chase as she fled to deeper places in the ship.

oOo

It took only one hour of proper work before Carol was out in front of the bridge. A wall of glass separated her from her audience as she wove a blazing, meteoric light show above the curve of the Earth. Laughing, the Skrull children clapped their hands and called out requests over the communicator until the sunlight faded from the long stretch of American soil and it was time for the humans to head back down to the planet.

oOo

"You are _never_ driving again," Fury said, stumbling out of the car.

Carol had the gall to laugh at him, stepping out into the sunshine like she hadn't just tried to murder him with turns taken too fast and optional brakes. She let him wallow about finally having his feet back on solid ground while she tugged the massive totes of kitty litter out of the trunk.

Each weighed about thirty-five pounds and she carried them like they were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

"It wasn't _that_ bad," Carol said when she came back and he was still leaning over his knees. "You're so dramatic."

"No," Fury straightened. "No; it was," He said and grunted when she dropped a bag of dry food in his arms. "Are you aware that driving is not the same as flying?"

Hoisting the scratching post hover her shoulder, Carol filled the brand new litter box with unopened toys, and shrugged. "It's been a couple of years," she said, gathering it all up and walking towards the house. "And there's no lanes in space."

"Yeah," Fury grumbled, following, "I _noticed_."

oOo

Keller called Fury back to work on a Thursday but, it was odd.

Not wanting to go back to the office was normal. It was easy.

That didn't mean it eased the ache of his heart as Carol, with Monica sitting on her shoulders, waved her arm wildly in a goodbye. She was wearing the SHIELD cap he had given her and was arm in arm with Maria. People walked around them, not sparing a glance for the two women whose fingers were sticky from humidity, honey, and the knowledge that they'd saved the Earth from destruction.

"Bye, Nick!" Monica called, voice and body above the crowd, unashamed at the looks her volume attracted.

Fury waved back unable to stop the grin on his face.

When he finally landed in LA a few hours later and stopped by his office, the first email in in his inbox was a collection of scanned pictures. There were a few lopsided ones of Goose playing and lounging around the Rambeau household, some of Carol and Maria singing Karaoke and fighting over a board game, and a couple of Monica and Nick's Nerf gun battle on the Kree ship.

The last one was taken by Talos, probably sometime during their last trip to visit the Skrulls. The four of them were silhouetted by the sun rising over the edge of the Earth; Maria leaning into Carol's side, Monica sandwiched between them, and Fury tugged close by a stubborn, super-powered woman. Side by side they stood in the consol room, looking down over their planet.

oOo

"Sir?" Coulson knocked on the edge of the door, head peaking around the frame. "You have a visitor."

"Who—" Fury glanced up from his report but Coulson was gone.

Carol walked in and kicked the door shut behind her. Aviator sunglasses sat on her nose, the grey baseball cap was backwards, and her leather jacket half hid an Air Force t-shirt. She had a brown cat carrier in one hand and a box of things—toys, a bed, and some other things he couldn't quite make out—under her other arm.

California sunlight seemed dim against her wide grin and the tiredness that clung to Fury's shoulders dropped away at the pure energy that seemed to flow through Carol's every step. Her chaos burned through the order of SHIELD, igniting something in his being that felt like starlight and tasted like lemonade.

"Nice office," she said, placing the box and carrier on his desk.

Goose meowed and stuck her nose against the bars until they opened. Free, the Flerken stretched each limb and sniffed at everything in sight.

"Hey there, Goosey," Fury scratched her under the chin and she purred against his hand. Only when the Flerken pulled away to go explore the rest of the office did his attention turn back to the woman examining the map on the back wall. "What're you doing here?"

"Ship's done," Carol said, turning away from the drawing of the Earth to pull up a chair. She slumped into it, legs spread out, arms crossed over her chest. "I'm leaving with Talos tomorrow to help him find a place to settle his people. Maybe help find the other colonies scattered across the universe."

Oh. Right.

They all knew that the time was drawing close. Carol continued to smile her kind, gentle smile; blue eyes soft like where the sky met the ground on the horizon. Together they watched Goose pad around the room, batting at the leaves of fake plants and climbing up the shelves of his bookcase.

"Guess this is goodbye, huh," Fury said.

"Kinda," she said. "I was actually wondering if you'd watch Goose for a while."

Settling on the windowsill, Goose watched the people on the street below, tailing flicking and curling.

"Thought you were going to leave her with Maria?"

Carol shrugged, "I was," she said. "But the Tesseract is still, uh," her eyes flicked over to the Flerken, "_missing_ and I figured it would be best to have her close by until it shows up."

Until the Flerken did whatever Flerken's did with what they swallowed. Hopefully it wouldn't come up in some nasty space hairball. That would certainly be something to explain to his superiors.

"Yeah," Fury said, "I'll watch the cat."

"_Flerken_."

"Uh huh."

oOo

The universe kept moving, the stars kept shining, and, sometimes, Nick Fury looked up at the sky and knew that in the middle of all the darkness, there was a woman who shone like the sun.

oOo

"People still have questions," Coulson said, following at Fury's heel. Most of the office had gone home, leaving just the two agents, a couple of stragglers, and the cleaning crew. The sun hadn't even set yet—the joys of the summer—but the office building still managed to feel abandoned. "About you, the Kree, and the woman."

"It's in the report," Fury said, resisting the urge to scratch at the three scabs that crossed beneath his new eye patch. The leather dug into his skin and it seemed that each spare thought turned towards the weight of it around his head.

Monica had thought it was cool, though. Even called him a pirate in her last letter. A couple of thick-soled boots and a longer jacket later and it made the other agents pause before talking to him, skirting out of his way when he walked. Suspects talked faster and very few people resisted arrest. It was nice.

"Understood, sir," Coulson said, drifting off into silence as they took the elevator up.

Fury left the other agent at his cubical desk, walked to his office, and opened the door.

Goose sat on his desk; tail wrapped around her paws and purring loud enough that he could hear it across the room. Beside her, dripping with _something_, was the Tesseract. Its blue light pulsed in an almost sad rhythm, as if it had been through the worst places imaginable.

Maybe it had.

Who knew what existed in a Flerken?

Stepping back, Fury closed the door, locked it, and turned to Coulson. "No one goes in there," he said, "understood?"

"Yes, sir."

Coulson was still standing guard when Fury came back a half hour later with a metal lunch box and two oven mitts.

oOo

Maria Rambeau's resume showed up on his desk some three weeks after Carol had left. It arrived with another handwritten note from Monica, a couple of pictures (one of Fury sleeping on the couch, Goose in his lap), and two cover letters.

One was for Fury's boss, detailing her achievements, why they should hire her, the usual spiel. The words swam in the same, easy confidence that both Carol and Maria thrived in and her recommendations came from pilots, commanders, and scientists alike.

The other was for Fury and had only one line written in swirling, cursive script:

_You win, Pirate Man._

oOo

"With all due respect, sir," Fury told Keller, "Maria Rambeau is the best damn pilot I've _ever_ seen."

oOo

The bar sat along a stretch of beach road—ocean to the front, city to the back. Maria downed what was left of her beer. Neon played across her dark skin, painted across the line of her jaw and the curve of her cheek. Her red t-shirt looked more like blood underneath the mix of colours but her smile was wide as she laughed.

"We were idiots," Maria told him, "Lawson didn't mind, though; I think she liked it." She paused, hummed under her breath, stared down at her hands. "Or, well. Mar-Vell, I guess. But she'll always be Doctor Lawson to me."

The silence of mourning old friends drifted between them. Respect burned for the Kree scientist who had given her life to help those that needed it. Maria lifted her bottle and saluted the ceiling and, beyond it, the stars.

"Bet the base _loved_ you," Fury said, finishing off his drink.

That made Maria laugh long and hard. "Hell no," She managed around her giggles. "Oh, god; no those boys _hated_ us." Resting her chin in her hand, Maria sighed. "Women couldn't fly combat so we were stuck testing Lawson's planes which, I mean. It wasn't perfect but it was good. Felt right, you know?" Her gaze drifted away, staring at something Fury couldn't see. "Carol and I would spend hours in the sky flying those planes. Have mock dog fights day in and day out, testing our reflexes to the limit. Going higher, further, faster."

"So that day, in the desert," Fury set his beer down on the table. "That was your first time ever being in an actual combat situation?"

Maria grinned at him. "That's right," she said, "spent years and years training for a dogfight like that. Practicing, pretending. After Carol's death, though," the words caught and she looked away, swallowed. "The sky didn't seem all that welcoming anymore and I could only think about the next test flight, the next time one of those planes went down."

She closed her eyes. "When they started pretending the flight didn't even happen, I knew I couldn't stay anymore."

oOo

The thing about meeting a woman who could fly, shoot energy blasts, and had a cat that was bigger on the inside was that there was literally nothing on planet Earth that could surprise Nick Fury. Not anymore. Eye patch, leather coat, big black boots, and his unflappable attitude got attention in all the right places.

Or the wrong ones seeing that people pretty high on the food chain started demanding him to be the one sent off to all the shitty weird-ass missions.

Next door neighbour suddenly had gills and scales? No problem. Some weird ass looking object had drifted by Earth? Nothing but an alien spaceship passing through. Weird Dog creatures climbing out of the ocean? Just another Thursday afternoon.

Fury jumped from Level Three to Level Six within a year.

Maria just laughed at him.

oOo

Carol arrived in Louisiana three days before Christmas and spent two of them sleeping. Goose stayed in the guestroom with her, curled on one of the pillows and kept watch with half lidded eyes. The rubber suit had been abandoned in a crumpled on the floor and carol had managed (barely) to pull a tank top over her head before crawling on top of the covers.

Monica checked on her every couple of hours to see if she was awake. Maria checked every few hours to make sure she was still breathing.

"Did she say anything?" Fury whispered, peeking past the door.

Blonde hair was sprawled across the pillows, mixing with soft, orange fur. Carol slept on her stomach with her mouth open, arms folded underneath her head. A breeze drifted through the window, playing with the curtains, and the day was warm despite it being the beginning of winter.

"Just gave me a hug, said that she was tired, and passed out," Maria said and tugged him away. "Come on, she'll be fine."

oOo

The morning of Christmas Eve, Fury walked downstairs to Goose chasing balls of wrapping across the kitchen floor and Carol with a pile of gifts at her feet. She looked like a raccoon caught trying to dig through a garbage can before leaping up out of the chair, blocking her presents from sight, and waving her hands wildly to force him back up the stairs.

"Shoo!" Carol hissed, mindful of the noise and the darkness outside the windows. "Go away! I'm not done!"

"Just one little peek?" Fury tried to turn around, his smile widening as she ignited, floating to block his view of the kitchen, arms spread to take up more space. "They're going to be opened in a few hours anyway!"

Carol's laugh filled him from head to toe. "No!" She cried. "Nu uh! It's Christmas!"

"What about a hint? Can I get a hint?"

Shaking her head, Carol tried to soften the volume of her giggles the closer to Monica and Maria's rooms they got. "You're ridiculous," she said, "fine; one hint."

Fury's one good eye narrowed as she leaned in. There was mischief in her gaze; a wildness to her grin.

"You ready?"

"_Yes_," he said.

Carol smiled and it was like a storm ripping through him, tearing down the walls and doors of his soul to open him up for the sky to come flooding in. "It's from _space_," she whispered and turned, bounding back down the stairs before he could make a grab at her.

"What—of course it's from space! That's not fair!"

Her amusement echoed through the house, brightening up the corners before the sun had fully woken up.

oOo

"We should probably open the space gifts before my parents get here," Maria said, powdered sugar on her bottom lip from the French toast.

Fury collected the plates, snickering at Carol's pout.

"But I spent so much time wrapping them," the super-powered human whined, laying her head down on the table. "You should at least let them stay that way for just a little bit longer."

Maria pretended to think about it. "Nah," she said. "Get the weird, questionable gifts out of the way before the _normal_ people arrive."

"Don't worry Auntie Carol," Monica said, sitting up straight in her seat, hands folded on her lap, trying to hide her grin with pursed lips. "I'll be sure to fully appreciate your wrapping skills."

Carol laughed and hugged the girl close. "Thanks Lieutenant Trouble," she pressed a kiss to Monica's forehead. "You're my favourite."

oOo

The gifts weren't the _weird_ kind of weird Fury was expecting. No plants with teeth or dogs with three mouths. Instead, Carol gave them communication devices. Some flat, metal things that looked clear except for the fact that there was text rolling across the surface.

"They're called C-Sats," Carol said, "kinda like a phone, camera, and video camera all in one," she held out her own, showing them how to use each button, "but they'll reach across the universe. A lot of people use them to communicate in secret because their signals cannot be traced."

"Why keep the pager then?" Nick said, lifting up the device, scrolling through the options until he captured a picture of a yawning Goose.

Carol shrugged. "These can only reach me when I'm in a certain radius of the access points," she gave them all a small smile. "The pager is directly linked to my communicator; no matter where I am, the signal will get through."

"Where'd you get them?"

"Mining colony," Carol plucked Maria's C-Sat out of her hands, typing something across it in rapid Kree glyphs. "Some place called Knowhere; it's known for its markets."

Monica leaned over her shoulder, watching as Carol connected it to Earth's satellites and networks.

Fury frowned. "What do they mine?"

"You don't want to know," Carol said, held the device up, and grinned. "Say cheese!" She told Monica and snapped a picture.

oOo

Torn wrapping paper was shoved into boxes, the mess waiting for another hour to be cleaned up while Maria dragged Fury off with her to go clean up the dining room. Carol sat on the floor of the living room, Monica in her lap holding the communication device and flipping through pictures and videos that had already been taken.

"What's this one of?" Monica said, pointing at what looked like a massive, skeletal head surrounded by nebulous clouds.

"That's Knowhere," Carol said, resting her chin on the young girl's head. "It's not exactly a planet."

Monica zoomed in on the large, empty eye sockets and shuddered. "You're right," she said, "I don't want to know what they mine there." Flipping to the next picture, she tilted her head to the side, looking down at the clear blue waters and man-made looking star-like landscape. "Where's this?"

"Xandar, capital of the Nova Empire."

"Are they like the Kree?"

Carol hummed. "Kind of; they and the Kree have been at war for a thousand years."

"A _thousand_ years?" Monica breathed. "Why?"

"Each side has a different story," Carol said softly, her eyes on the Nova Corps' familiar star. "This person did that, another person did this. I don't think anyone really knows who started it."

Monica leaned back against her aunt's chest and Goose wormed her way onto their laps, purring as they laughed. Once the Flerken had settled, the C-Sat was flipped to the next picture.

"What about this one?"

oOo

Nick Fury wasn't quite sure what to expect when he was dragged out to the SHIELD air base outside of Shreverport, but it certainly wasn't being strapped into the back seat of a jet and throwing up into a small brown bag.

"_You alright back there?"_ Carol called over the headset, humour bleeding through her words. _"Stomach still in the right place?"_

"Dunno yet," Fury groaned, pressing a hand against his stomach and taking as many deep, body filling breaths as he could. Now that the barrel rolls and flips had stopped tugging his centre of mass in all different directions it felt as though his cells were finally settling back down. "Ask me again once I'm back on the ground."

Laughter bled over and he watched as Maria lifted up beside them. _"Take it easy on him, Avenger; it's his first time."_

"_Aw! I'm your first, Fury? That's so cute!"_

He rested his head in his hands. "Please stop talking."

oOo

"I take it back," Fury said, spread eagle on the grass, "your flying is worse than your driving."

"That's fair," Maria said, squatting down beside him. "I don't know why you didn't come with me; I'm not the one who crashed."

Carol squawked and pushed the other woman over. "I was shot out of the sky!"

"Still counts!"

oOo

Carol borrowed the open workshop for a few days, Monica standing by her side as she worked on a 'cat carrier that could withstand space'. It looked like a tiny spaceship backpack with its own gravity, oxygen supply, tiny litter box, and storage for food and water.

"I want to take Goose with me," she told Maria once the sun had set, the two of them beneath a blanket. The TV played in the background, sound muted so it was just the lights of each scene flashing across their faces. "You know; a woman and her cat exploring the universe."

"Mmmhmm," Maria said. "Can't let the boys and their dogs have all the fun."

oOo

Carol stayed on Earth until the end of January. Two weeks in Louisiana, flying planes and showing Monica the universe on a thin screen. Two weeks in LA where she followed Fury around, poking at his investigations and laughed at the way the agents scrambled out of his way.

She sampled wedding cakes just because she could, asked a woman at the beach teach her how to surf, and stayed up late playing with Goose. Carol existed loudly because it was the only way she knew how.

At the end of the month, when she packed up her Flerken in the special built-for-space carrier and carved a trail of starlight across the ocean sky, Fury wondered if he would ever get used to the silence she left behind.

oOo

Peggy Carter arrived at the Los Angeles office with an entourage of agents. Her steps spelled out business and her movement was sharpened around the edges. She was an old blade, a sheathed blade, but that didn't make her any less deadly.

Fury stood up when she entered his office, hands on his desk as she closed the door behind her.

"Ma'am," he said, nodding his head but unwilling to tear his gaze away from her. "What can I do for you?"

Peggy tugged a chair forward, sat down, crossed one leg over the other, and stared at him with unblinking eyes. "Tell me about Captain Carol Danvers," she said.

Sitting down, Fury leaned back in his seat, folded his hands over his lap, and kept his face carefully blank. "What would you like to know?"

oOo

"She's a pilot."

"Yes."

"But you don't agree with that."

"Not particularly."

Carter hummed, leaned back, tapped her toes against the floor. "What would _you_ call her, then, Agent Fury?"

"To put it simply, Mrs. Carter; I'd call her what she is."

"And what is that?"

Fury met her spear-glinting gaze with his own. "A hero."

oOo

Peggy Carter left just as suddenly as she arrived, but before she walked out of the office, she turned once more to Fury. "I expect great things from you, Agent," she said, hand on the doorknob. "And if your friend comes back around, please tell her that I'd very much like to meet her."

"I'll pass the message along," he said and watched her go.

Only when her heels had faded down the hallway did Fury relax back into his seat and rub a hand down his face.

"Sir?"

His head snapped up, heart thundering in his chest. _Jesus_. "What is it, Rook?"

"Was that—was that who I think it was?"

"No, Agent, it was not."

Coulson nodded, once. "Understood, sir. Do you need me to take any files down to records?"

Fury looked at the stack on his desk. "Negative, Agent," he said. "You're clear to go home."

"Thank you, sir."

He watched Coulson shut the door behind himself, waited until he was sure there would be no more interruptions, and pulled out the C-Sat.

_Met someone who'd be excited to meet you next time you're in the neighbourhood._

oOo

Fury gets the message early in the morning, cup of coffee in hand, sun just rising over the edge of the city and making the ocean glisten.

_Look what I found,_ Carol had typed out and there's a picture of something long, metallic, and looking like a melted version of a telescope.

Fury put down his coffee. _What the hell is it?_

_I have no idea_, she said.

oOo

_It's a space probe_, she told him, hours later. _Not ours, someone else's._

_Who?_

Carol's answer was instantaneous; _I don't know._

oOo

Another picture came in, a panel taken off the side of the probe. Goose glared hatefully at the interior, hackles raised, ears flat, and teeth bared in a hiss.

_Beware the Flerken's true, natural enemy,_" Carol had sent._ The Alien Space Probe_.

oOo

_I'm going to call her Freckles,_ Carol wrote underneath another picture of the slightly gutted machine. Goose was laying across a toolbox, tail wrapped around her body, eyes closed as she slept. _What do you think?_

Fury rolled his eye and finished his dinner. _I think you're ridiculous._

_You're the one with the eye patch, drama queen._

He ignored her for the rest of the night and it was only when he was getting into bed that she sent him another picture.

It was lopsided, awkward, and pulled just far enough away to capture Carol, the space probe, and half of Goose's butt. The blonde had a pair of dark aviator looking goggles over her eyes, a wide grin on her face, and was holding up one hand. At the end of her pointer finger there was a small, white flame.

_Who needs a blowtorch when you're literally on fire?_

oOo

Fury woke up to about twenty more messages. The first happened to be from an exasperated Maria and only said; _Have you seen what she's up to_?

The other twenty-one were all images of Carol with the probe; her pressing her cheek against that of an unimpressed Goose with it in the background, wrapping the machine in a tarp and holding it like a child, and others that were works in progress of her fiddling with wires, removing bits and replacing them with others, and one that was a picture of her reflection in the lens.

A video was included and Fury watched Goose approach the probe on the tips of her toes, back in an arch, fur pointed up like a porcupine. She walked closer, slowly, each movement calculated, eyes unblinking. Each second grew longer, the video shook from silenced laughter.

The machine's lens shifted a fraction of an inch. Goose jumped a good four feet in the air and scrambled away, yowling into a corner while Carol's laughter echoed in the background.

_Poor Goose, _Fury wrote, heading out to his car. _Watch out or she might eat it._

Carol responded when he was pulling up to the SHIELD offices with a picture of her sprawled on top of what looked like some sort of sleeping bag. Her smile was half hidden behind a bright orange tail—which Carol was pretending to wear as a moustache. A paw was pressed against her cheek, claws sheathed, and Goose's head was partially in the frame with just the tip of her tongue sticking out.

_She's fine_.

oOo

_Be free, my child!_ Carol sent Fury with a picture of the probe being launched back into the wide open wilderness of space. _You must go your own way now!_

Fury sighed over his supper. _That's it?_ He typed back. _You just fixed it up and let it go?_

_Hardly,_ Carol sent back. _But hush. It's a surprise._

A few minutes later, he received another 'ping'.

Carol was ignited, her hair ablaze, eyes glowing with the same ferocity of two suns. She was floating in what looked like space, the cowl highlighting the soft roundness of her cheeks and the strong line of her jaw. _"Oh my God, Fury,"_ she said in the video, a smile filled with pride and giddiness bursting across her face. _"They're going to lose their goddamn __**minds**__."_

oOo

A full forty-eight hours later and twenty-four images were released from what NASA was calling the 'Remembrance Probe'. It wasn't Earth made and the machine itself was nowhere close to the actual solar system, but the DSN managed to catch the transmissions it was giving off anyway.

It was proof, scientists said, that the human race wasn't alone and that the universe was more wild and stranger than they could have ever imagined. Coming in clear, full colour resolution they were easily the most gorgeous pictures of space Earth had ever seen.

But it wasn't those that caught the eyes of the population. No, instead it was the four photographs that came from what must have been a security feature built into the probe's internal shell. They were the first that arrived and the ones that held the spotlight the longest.

The first one was of a woman; her face covered in a red, metallic cowl that left only the bottom half of her face visible. Blonde hair stuck out of the top like the Mohawk of an old Roman helmet and her eyes burned with an internal fire. She was dressed in what many were assuming was some sort of red, blue, and gold space suit and was leaning into the camera, head tilted in curiosity.

_Carol._

Her body blocked most of the blurry, out of focus background, but did nothing to hide the splash of orange peeking over her shoulder.

A cat. A small, orange tabby with wide, brass eyes and an unreadable tag but Fury didn't need to read the letters to know that it was Goose.

The next picture was lit by what Fury could only describe as a cheap, shitty flash that could only come from a disposable camera at a dark party. White light highlighted the grimace on Carol's face and how the cowl pulled away from her features as if the edges were on fire. On her shoulder, Goose's ears flattened and her fur was spiking up.

There was something about it, though. Something that was only summed up by the third and forth pictures:

Because in the third, the cowl had fallen away, leaving Carol with her shoulder length blonde hair staring into the camera like someone had just pulled a party popper in front of her face. Goose, on the other hand, had arched her back completely. Fur was spiked, teeth were bared, and her tail was up like a warning shot.

It was the forth that was Nick's favourite; because Carol was laughing. She had her hand against her abdomen while her head was thrown back, eyes closed, and mouth open. The probe had captured the exact second that shock had given away to unbridled joy.

In one, swift moment, the camera had captured the beauty of the human soul in one sparking instant billions of light years away from Earth.

Unfortunately, the other twenty images were swept aside for the first four, but the scientific communities around the world grasped each image with white knuckled tightness.

Carol had, at some point, flown the Probe access point to access point and had let the little machine take pictures along the way.

Two galaxies spinning into each other in a monstrous collision course that was taking place over millions and millions of years, a planet so massive that its rings had rings, star systems with a dozen, tiny suns spinning around each other, asteroid belts made up of glowing, shimmering rocks that looked as though they were vanishing and appearing someplace else.

Each image had been purely theoretical, brought to life in the most incredible way imaginable.

There were others, as well; wilder ones, terrifying ones. A creature the size of Venus swimming through the desolation of a broken solar system; a planet, boiling and brewing, looking almost _alive_ beneath its threadbare atmosphere.

But it was the last that was probably the most beautiful of all:

It was a simple thing, a spiral galaxy surrounded by the darkness of space.

The Milky Way.

Because even in the depths of space surrounded by wonder and beauty that most people could only ever dream of, Carol Danvers had turned the probe and its lens towards home.


End file.
